Pope Francis Announces Priests Can Forgive Abortions In Upcoming Holy Year

Although abortions will still be considered a grave sin in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican published a letter where Pope Francis stated it will be formally allowed for priests to forgive abortions in the upcoming Holy Year, which begins next December 8. Forgiveness will only be granted to women who are “contrite,” as the announcement explained. “I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision,” the Pontiff said in the letter about those who ended pregnancies.

“I am well aware of the pressure that has led [women] to this decision,” Pope Francis wrote in the announcement. “I know that it is an existential and moral ordeal.” The Pontiff was very clear on the fact that he doesn’t mean to retract the Church's opposition to abortion, but is instead looking to extend the power of mercy. Normally, only a only a chief confessor of a diocese can absolve someone of such a sin is able to grant forgiveness but with this announcement, the Pope has granted the power to all ordained priests.

This decision is part of the Pope’s broader mission to make the church more progressive and open, which have critics and several cardinals have condemned. Catholic commentator John L. Allen Jr. explained it best when he wrote: “Both abortion and defiance of papal authority are still considered grave sins" resulting in excommunication. In effect, what Francis has done instead of changing doctrine is to extend the range of mercy to anyone who seeks forgiveness with what he describes as a 'contrite heart.'”